Portable play pen



Oct. 12, 1948. M. D. BIBLE 2,451,431

4 PORTABLE PLAY PEN A Filed Dec. 5, 1944 a 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I Inventor MILBERT D. BIBLE Oct. 12, 1948. M. D. BIBLE PORTABLE PLAY PEN 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 5, 1944 Inventor MILBERT DBIBLEI and W tome]:

Patented Oct. 12, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

The present invention relates to new and useful improvements in portable play pens designed primarily for use by children and embodies the provision of a collapsible fence together with means for supporting the fence in an upright position to form the play pen.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a fence composed of flexible members supported by rigid posts to form a rectangular play pen and including guy wires at the corners of the fence attached to stakes driven into the ground and by means of which the flexible members of the fence may be drawn taut to support the fence in a proper position.

A further object of the invention is to provide a fence composed of rigid upright palings or posts connected by flexible runners and by means of which the fence may be rolled or folded into a compact form for conveniently transporting and storing the same.

A still further object is to provide an article of this character of simple and practical construction, which is neat and attractive in appearance, relatively inexpensive to manufacture and otherwise well adapted for the purposes for which the same is intended.

Other objects and advantages reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective View showing the fence in erected position.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view in elevation showing one of the corner posts of the fence and the guy rope attached thereto.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary elevational view of one of the stakes for the guy rope.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary side elevational View showing an intermediate brace for the fence, and

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional View taken substantially on a line 5-5 of Figure 4.

Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein for the purpose of illustration I have disclosed a preferred embodiment of the invention, the numeral 5 designates a plurality of palings having upper and lower openings 5 and 7 through which upper and lower flexible runners 8 and 9 are inserted, the runners being constructed of rope or other suitable flexible material. The ends of the runners are connected by snap hooks l0 and the runners may be constructed of any desired length to provide sections of a fence connected to each other by the snap hooks.

The fence formed of the palings and runners is supported in an upright position by means of corner posts ll having pointed lower ends I2 adapted for embedding in the ground, the upper portion of the post being provided with snap hooks i3 engaging the uppermost runner 8 and lower snap hooks l4 engaging the lowermost runner 9. The snap hooks extend through the posts and are formed with eyes l5 the eye of the lower snap hook 14 having one end of a guy rope l6 attached thereto and the eye of the upper snap hook I3 having the guy rope freely inserted therethrough and with the other end of the guy rope secured in adjusted position by means of a rope clamp ll of conventional construction.

The guy rope I6 is also freely inserted through the eye of a snap hook l8 attached to an eye IS on the outer end of a pivoted rod 20 which is pivotally attached at its inner end as at 2| to the intermediate portion of a stake 22 adapted to be driven into the ground, the rod 20 thus being adapted for folding against the side of the stake when not in use.

If desired the intermediate portion of the fence may be supported by a brace member designated generally at 23, the brace member being of substantially triangular form and includes side memers 24 connected at their upper ends by a flexible tie 25 and connected at their lower ends by a base member 26 having its ends connected to the lower ends of the side members by flexible ties 21. The meeting edges of the upper ends of the members 24 are recessed to provide an opening 28 to receive the upper runner 8 of the fence while the lower runner of the fence is positioned under the base member 26 as shown to advantage in Figure 5 of the drawings. The flexible ties 25 and 2! permit the folding of the brace into a compact form.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that the upper and lower runners 8 and 9 may be easily and quickly attached to and detached from the snap hooks l3 and M of the corner posts and the sections of the fence rolled or folded into a collapsed position for conveniently transporting or storing the same.

Also, if desired, the runners 8 and 9 may be knotted at spaced intervals as shown at 28 to prevent sliding movement of the palings 5 along the runners.

It is believed that the details of construction and manner of use of the device will be readily understood from the foregoing without further detailed explanation.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

A portable play pen comprising flexible upper and lower endless runners, palings supporting the runners in spaced apart relation, and supporting means for said runners shapingthe same into rectangular form to provide an enclosure comprising corner posts with hooks thereon through which said runners slidably extend, stakes ema bedded in the ground, eye forming members attached to the stakes, and guy lines connected to therupper and lower endsof the posts andiforming loops slidablethrough said members, the connection of said guy lines to the upper ends of the posts being slidably adjustable to tighten the guy lines. o

MILBERT D. BIBLE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

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